High dynamic range display systems

ABSTRACT

A display system and method of producing images with high dynamic range are provided. The display system employs multiple light valves for projecting a portion of the image onto another.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The technical field of the examples to be disclosed in the followingsections relates to the art of display systems, and more particularly,to the field of display systems employing light valves.

BACKGROUND

Dynamic range is the ratio of intensity of the highest luminance partsof a scene and the lowest luminance parts of the scene. Over the pastdecade, display industries have steadily improved the dynamic range ofdisplay systems, such as display systems employing liquid-crystal cells,liquid-crystal-on silicon, plasma cells, and micromirror based lightvalves. Today many display systems using light valves have achieved adynamic range of around 2000:1. However, this achieved dynamic range isstill far below human visual capabilities or the dynamic range ofnatural scenes, which is typically around 50,000:1 or even higher.Creation of a realistic rendering of such a scene or matching humanvisual capacities expects a display system having a dynamic range inexcess of 2000:1.

SUMMARY

In one example, a projection system is disclosed herein. The systemcomprises: an illumination system providing light; an imaging lightvalve having an array of individually addressable pixels for modulatingthe light so as to produce a desired image; an illumination light valvehaving an array of individually addressable pixels disposed between theillumination system and imaging light valve on a propagation path of thelight so as to image the pixels of the illumination light valve onto thepixels of the imaging light valve; and wherein the pixel images of theillumination light valve are offset from the pixels of the imaging lightvalve such that the produced image has a resolution that is higher thanresolution of the illumination light valve and/or the resolution of theimaging light valve.

In another example, a projection system is disclosed herein. The systemcomprises: an illumination system providing light; an imaging lightvalve having a first number of individually addressable pixels formodulating the light so as to produce a desired image; an illuminationlight valve having a second number of individually addressable pixelsdisposed between the illumination system and imaging light valve on apropagation path of the light so as to image the pixels of theillumination light valve onto the pixels of the imaging light valve; andwherein the first number is different from the second number.

In yet another example, a method of producing an image is disclosedherein. The method comprises: producing an array of light beams whoseintensity are dynamically adjustable onto an imaging light valve, eachlight beam being capable of generating an illumination area on a pixelof an array of pixels of the imaging light valve; modulating, by theimaging light valve, the array of light beams so as to produce theimage; and wherein the illumination areas are offset a distance along adiagonal of the pixel of the imaging light valve.

In yet another example, a method of producing an image is disclosedherein. The method comprises: producing an array of light beams whoseintensity are dynamically adjustable onto an imaging light valve, eachlight beam being capable of generating an illumination area on a pixelof an array of pixels of the imaging light valve; modulating, by theimaging light valve, the array of light beams so as to produce theimage; and wherein the total number of separate light beams over time isdifferent from the total number of pixels of the imaging light valve.

In yet another example, a method of producing an image is disclosedherein. The method comprises: producing a light beam; directing thelight beam onto an illumination light valve having an array ofindividually addressable pixels; producing an array of light beams bymodulating the individually addressable pixels; modulating the array oflight beams based on a set of image data, further comprising: derivingthe set of image data using a pulse-width-modulation technique whoseleast-significant-bit is defined based on a dynamic response of a pixelfrom the illumination light valve and another dynamic response of apixel from the imaging light valve; and projecting the modulated lightbeams from the imaging light valve onto a display target for viewing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 illustrates a diagram of an exemplary display system;

FIG. 2 schematically illustrates an exemplary active surface of eitherone of the light valves of the display system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 schematically illustrates an exemplary arrangement of the twolight valves of the display system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 schematically illustrates another exemplary arrangement of thetwo light valves of the display system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 illustrates a perspective view of the reflective surface of theimaging light valve and the image of the illumination light valvealigned with the imaging light valve given the arrangement shown in FIG.4;

FIG. 6 schematically illustrates yet an exemplary arrangement of the twolight valves of the display system in FIG. 1;

FIG. 7 a illustrates a perspective view of the reflective surface of theimaging light valve and the image of the illumination light valvealigned with the imaging light valve given the arrangement shown in FIG.6;

FIG. 7 b shows a top view of the reflective surface of the imaging lightvalve of FIG. 7 a;

FIG. 8 illustrates an exemplary least-significant-bit achievable by thedisplay system;

FIG. 9 is a diagram showing an exemplary method of producing highdynamic range images;

FIG. 10 is a diagram showing an exemplary display system; and

FIG. 11 is a diagram showing another exemplary display system.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EXAMPLES

Disclosed herein comprises a display system that employs multiple lightvalves for reproducing desired images, as shown in FIG. 1. Referring toFIG. 1, display system 100 comprises illumination light valve 102 andimaging light valve 104. Illumination light valve 102 is controlled anddriven by illumination light valve driver 106; and imaging light valveis controlled and driven by imaging driver 108. System controller 110 isconnected to the illumination and imaging light valve drivers forcontrolling the operations of the drivers. Also provided is frame buffer112, in which image data, control data, can be stored.

Each light valve comprises an array of individually addressable pixels,such as reflective and deflectable micromirrors, liquid-crystal cells,liquid-crystal-on-silicon cells, emissive plasma cells, or other type ofdevices. The illumination and imaging light valves may have the same ordifferent natural resolutions. For example, each of the illumination andimaging light valves may have a natural resolution of 640×480 (VGA) orhigher, such as 800×600 (SVGA) or higher, 1024×768 (XGA) or higher,1280×1024 (SXGA) or higher, 1280×720 or higher, 1400×1050 or higher,1600×1200 (UXGA) or higher, and 1920×1080 or higher. Of course, otherresolutions are also applicable. When the imaging and illumination lightvalve s have different natural resolutions, the illumination light valvemay have a resolution lower or higher than that of the imaging lightvalve. Moreover, the pitch size (that is defined as the distance betweentwo adjacent pixels) and/or the pixel size of the pixels of the lightvalves may or may not be the same.

The illumination and imaging light valves are cascaded on the opticalaxis of the display system such that one light valve is imaged onto theother light valve, as shown in the figure. Specifically, theillumination and imaging light valves can be disposed in many locationson the optical axis of the display system. For example, the illuminatinglight valve can be disposed between the light source and the imaginglight valve. The imaging light valve can be disposed before theprojection lens used for projecting light onto the display screen, orbetween the projection lens and the display screen, or at the displayscreen. Alternatively, the imaging light valve can be disposed betweenthe light source and the projection lens of the display system; whilethe illuminating light valve can be disposed after the light source andthe imaging light valve, such as between the imaging light valve and theprojection lens, between the projection lens and the screen, and at thescreen. In the later example, the light from the light source isdirected to the imaging light valve that is then imaged onto theillumination light valve. The modulated light from the illuminationlight is then projected onto the screen for viewing.

The light valves can be aligned to each other in many ways. For example,the illumination and imaging light valves can be aligned such that onelight valve is imaged onto the other—that is, one light valve is at afocal plane of the other light valve. The light valves can also bealigned such that one light valve is off the focal plane of the otherlight valve. In either scenario, pixels of different light valves canalso be aligned in many ways. For example, the image of each pixel inone light valve can be aligned accurately with a pixel of the otherlight valve; or can be offset a pre-determined distance along apre-determined direction from a pixel in the other light valve. When thelight valves have different resolutions, each pixel of one light valvewith a lower resolution can be aligned to a sub-array of pixels in theother light valve that has a higher resolution, which will be discussedafterwards with reference to FIG. 3 through FIG. 7 b.

Even with a crude alignment wherein no pixel-to-pixel alignment betweenthe illumination and imaging light valves exists, the display system canhave a dynamic range of 2000:1 or higher and a bit depth of 10 bits orhigher, or 16 bits or higher. This arises from the fact that the dynamicrange of the display system is D₁×D₂, wherein D₂:1 is the contrast ratioof the display system without the illumination light valve, and D₁:1 isthe contrast ratio of the illumination light valve. In a typical examplewherein D₁ and D₂ are around 1000:1, the resulting display system canhave a dynamic range of 10⁶:1, which exceeds human visual capability fornatural scenes. Moreover, a large number of grayscale levels can beprovided between the dark-black and bright-white levels. For example, 10bits or more and 16 bits or more grayscale levels can be enabled. Thelarger number of grayscales in turn unfetters the display system fromdithering in presenting grayscale levels.

As a way of example, one of the two light valves can be designated forproviding grayscale levels of desired images on a screen; and the otherlight valve is designated for presenting sharp image features of thedesired images on the screen. Specifically, the illumination light valvecan be designated for producing a low frequency portion of the desiredimage (e.g. a blurred image). The imaging light valve in this examplecan be operated with a set of image compensation data that is derived byscaling the input image data with the image data for the illuminationlight valve with optical blur. The scaled image data for the imaginglight valve can be the input image data divided by the image data forthe illumination light valve with optical blur. For example, ifillumination light valve comprises pixels that are binary devices, thusare incapable of producing instantaneous gray shades, true grayscalelevels can be obtained by forming the image on the illumination lightvalve using a binary dither pattern and defocusing the illuminationlight valve (thus the image formed on the imaging light valve) from theimaging light valve so as to create a blurred image on the imaging lightvalve. When blurred, the binary dither pattern on the illumination lightvalve forms a true grayscale light intensity distribution across theimaging light valve. Alternatively, the image on the illumination lightvalve can also be preprocessed with typical image processing techniques,including, but not limited to, image dilation and low-pass filtering.The imaging light valve in this example can be operated with a set ofcompensation data that is derived by scaling the input image by theimage displayed by the illumination light valve on the imaging lightvalve, accounting for any defocus or other optical effects.

In another example wherein the illumination light valve is capable ofproducing instantaneous gray shades (such as an analogue LCD panel), itmay not be necessary to use a binary dither pattern on the illuminationlight valve. It may not be necessary to defocus the image of theillumination light valve on the imaging light valve either. However,defocusing the illumination light valve to the imaging light valve canloosen the alignment tolerances. In addition to the above discussedadvantages of high dynamic range and large bit depth, other advantagesare also achievable. For example, high perceived resolution ofreproduced images is also achievable by accurate alignment of theilluminating and imaging pixel arrays, which will be detailedafterwards.

The pixels of each of the illumination and imaging light valves can beof a variety of natures, such as LCD cells, LCOS cells, emissive plasmacells, and micromirrors. As one example, FIG. 2 illustrates aperspective view of an array of micromirrors that can be used for thelight valves. Referring to FIG. 2, for simplicity purpose, only 16reflective and deflectable micromirrors are illustrated in micromirrorarray 114. In practice, the total number of micromirrors of the arraydepends upon the desired natural resolution of the light valve. Themicromirrors each comprises a reflective mirror plate that is capable ofbeing moved in response to an electrostatic field established betweenthe mirror plate and an addressing electrode associated with the mirrorplate. The mirror plate is formed on a substrate that can be asemiconductor substrate or a light transmissive substrate. The mirrorplate can also be derived from a single crystal, which will not bedetailed herein.

As discussed above with reference to FIG. 1, the illumination andimaging light valves can be aligned in many ways, one of which isschematically illustrated in FIG. 3. As shown in FIG. 3, theillumination and imaging light valves are aligned along the propagationpath of the illumination light such that active area 116 of theillumination light valve (102 in FIG. 1) is substantially aligned toactive area 118 of the imaging light valve (104 in FIG. 1). In thisexample, pixel images of the illumination light valve may or may not bealigned to individual pixels of the imaging light valve. However, byturning on and off the individual pixels of the illumination lightvalve, the light from the light source and incident onto theillumination light valve before impinging the imaging light valve canstill be modulated and partitioned so as to achieve a system dynamicrange of D₁×D₂. Moreover, a large number of grayscale levels can beprovided between the dark-black and bright-white levels. For example, 10bits or more and 16 bits or more grayscale levels can be enabled.

As an aspect of the example, the illumination and imaging light valvescan be accurately aligned such that each pixel (such as pixel 120) ofthe illumination light valve is imaged onto and substantially perfectlyaligned to a pixel (e.g. pixel 122) of the imaging light valve, as shownin FIG. 4. It is noted that, the illumination and imaging light valvesin this instance may or may not have the same resolution. Specifically,when the illumination and imaging light valves have different naturalresolutions, each pixel of the light valve with a lower resolution isimaged onto and substantially aligned to one of the pixels of the lightvalve with a higher resolution.

As another aspect of the example, 122 in FIG. 4 can be a subgroup ofpixels of the imaging light valve—that is each pixel (e.g. pixel 120) ofthe illumination light valve can be imaged onto and aligned with asubgroup of pixels of the imaging light valve. For example, pixelsubgroup may have 2 or more and 4 or more pixels. The pixels in thesubgroup may be pixels consecutively positioned along a row or a columnof the pixel array in the imaging light valve, or alternatively, may bepixels in an m×n pixel block, such as 2×2 pixel block, 2×3 pixel block,and 3×3 pixel block.

FIG. 5 illustrates the alignment of the illumination and imaging lightvalve wherein the pixels of the light valves are aligned on a one-by-onebase. Referring to FIG. 5, 126 represents pixel images of theillumination light valve; and 124 represents pixels of the imaging lightvalve. The pixel images of 126 are substantially aligned to the pixelsof the imaging light valve. In this configuration, each pixel image of126 is a dynamically adjustable light source for the corresponding pixelof the imaging light valve. By dynamically adjusting the illuminationintensity of the pixel images 126, the incident light (pixel images of126) onto the pixels of the imaging light valve introduces additionaldynamic range for the display system.

As yet another aspect of the example, the illumination and imaging lightvalves can be aligned such that each pixel image of the illuminationlight valve is shifted a distance relative to the pixels of the imaginglight valve—resulting in a higher resolution in addition to a higherdynamic range. For example, the pixels images can be shifted half thediagonal distance of the pixel of the imaging light valve along thediagonal of the pixels of the imaging light valve, as shown in FIG. 6.

Referring to FIG. 6, for example, image 128 of pixel 120 of theillumination light valve is shifted a half the diagonal distance ofpixel 122 along the diagonal of pixel 122 of the imaging light valve.FIG. 7 a illustrates a perspective view such alignment, wherein 126denotes the image of the pixels of the illumination light valve; and 124denotes the pixels of the imaging light valve. Such alignment can bebetter seen in the top view of the imaging light valve as shown in FIG.7 b. Referring to FIG. 7 b, because of the position offset, the image ofeach pixel of the illumination light valve covers substantially portionsof four adjacent pixels of the imaging light valve. In another word,each pixel of the imaging light valve is optically partitioned into fourareas (e.g. areas 1, 2, 3, and 4 as shown in the figure) each of whichis illuminated by separate images of four adjacent pixels of theillumination light valve. This configuration yields a display systemhaving at least two imaging light valves. The resolution of such displaysystem can be (2N−1)×(2N−1), wherein each of the light valves has N×Nnatural resolutions. When N is much larger than 1, which is common formost of current light valves used in display systems, the resolution ofthe display system can be simplified as 4N×N, which is 4 times theresolution of each individual light valves. At the same time, thedisplay system achieves a dynamic range of substantially D₁×D₂ and a bitdepth of 10 bits or more or 16 bits or more. It is noted that theillumination and imaging light valves may or may not have the samenatural resolution. However, it is preferred, though not required, thatthe pixels of the illumination and imaging light valves aresubstantially rectangular or square, and each have substantially thesame shape and reflective area.

As another example, pixels of the illumination and imaging light valvesmay have different reflective areas. For example, in FIG. 7 b, eachdashed open square of 126 may represent an image of a single pixel (e.g.micromirror) of the illumination light valve, whereas each solid opensquare of 124 represents a block of pixels (e.g. 2×2 pixel block, 2×3pixel block, and 3×3 pixel block) of the imaging light valve.

In the example when pixels of the illumination light valve areaccurately aligned to the pixels of the light valve even though pixelimages of the illumination light valve may be offset a distance from thecorresponding pixels of the imaging light valve, the pixels of the bothillumination and imaging light valves together determine theillumination intensity of the pixels of the produced image (e.g. theimage on the display target). This implies that either light valve canturn off an image pixel of the produced image. Such fact enablesdefinition of extremely small least-significant-bit (LSB), such as a LSBless than 7 microseconds, less than 5 microseconds, and less than 600nanoseconds. Specifically, a LSB can be defined by a rising edge of apixel from one of the illumination and imaging light valves (e.g. thetime for turning on the pixel), and a falling edge (e.g. the time forturning off a pixel) of a pixel of the other one of the illumination andimaging light valves, as shown in FIG. 8.

Referring to FIG. 8, the system LSB can be defined such that the risingedge of the LSB corresponds to the rising edge of the second light valvethat can be either one of the illumination and imaging light valve, butmore preferably the fastest rising edge of the illumination and imaginglight valves. The falling edge of the system LSB can be defined as thefalling edge of the first light valve (the other one of the illuminationand imaging light valves). Such way of LSB definition providessignificant flexibility of light valve design and fabrication but isstill capable of providing small LSB. This way of LSB definition is ofparticular importance for light valves wherein pixels have asymmetric ONand OFF response time. In practice, such as in the instance when thepixels are micromirrors, the micromirrors may exhibit different ON andOFF time responses, which result in different rising and falling edgesof the LSB. This often occurs especially when each micromirror has onesingle addressing electrode, and the mirror plate of the micromirrorturns on in response to an electrostatic field, whereas turns off inresponse to mechanic deformation stored in a deformable hinge. Forsystems using light valves whose pixels exhibit asymmetric ON and OFFresponses, the LSB can be defined by the faster rising edge and fallingedge of the pixels of the imaging and illumination light valves. Infact, when the falling edge of the pixels of the first light valve andthe rising edge of the pixels of the second light valve are combined todefine the system LSB, the first light valve can be designated tosacrifice the stringent requirement for the rising edge (turning ONresponse) so as to improve other pixel properties or to meet other pixelrequirement. Similar to the second light valve, designing the secondlight valve may sacrifice the falling edge (turning OFF response) whenneeded.

Referring to FIG. 9, luminance channel of input image 130 is deliveredto imaging filtering module 132. The imaging filtering module maycomprise a low-pass filter for filtering out the high-frequency portionof the input image based on a pre-determined low-pass threshold. Theimaging filtering may have other functional modules for performing otherdesired functions, such as binary and/or temporal dithering and/or imagedilation. The filtered image after the imaging filtering is delivered toillumination light valve 102 for imaging. The image produced by theillumination light valve is then projected to imaging light valve 104.

All other channels, such as the color luminance channels (e.g. Red,Green, Blue, and White, or Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and White) aredelivered to image compensation module 134 for processing. In oneexample, the image compensation module derived a set of image data byscaling the input image data with the image data output from the imagefiltering module and delivered to the illumination light valve,accounting any optical effects, such as optical blur.

The processed image data output from the image compensation module isthen delivered to imaging light valve 104. The imaging light valveproduces an image based on the processed image data from the imagecompensation module. Because the image produced by the illuminationlight valve is projected on the imaging light valve during theproduction of the image by the imaging light valve, the final imageafter the imaging light valve is a combination of the images produced byboth illumination and imaging light valves.

The above system configuration has many advantages. For example, inaddition to the high dynamic range and small LSB as afore discussed,true gray shades of produced images can be achieved because of theoptical blur of the image by the illumination light valve. A light metermeasuring a large smooth region of the produced image can see asubstantial uniformity over time. This significantly reduces potentialartifact introduced by using Pulse-width-modulation techniques forgenerating grayscales.

Referring to FIG. 10, the display system comprises illumination system136 that produces illumination light. The illumination system maycomprise a light source and other elements, such as a color wheel andlight integrator. The light source can be any suitable light sources,such as arc lamps, LEDs, and lasers. When LED or lasers are used, anarray of LEDs (or lasers) of the same or different output lightspectrums can be provided.

Light from illumination system 136 is directed to illumination lightvalve 102 through TIR prism 138. The image produced by illuminationlight valve 102 is projected onto imaging light valve 104 through relaylens 140 and TIR prism 142. Imaging light valve 104 modulates theincident light and produces an image that is projected onto displaytarget 146 through projection lens 144 for viewing.

Other than a display system having one single imaging light valve, suchas imaging light valve 104 in FIG. 10, a display system can havemultiple imaging light valves, such as that shown in FIG. 11. Referringto FIG. 11, three imaging light valves 152, 154, and 156 are employedfor modulating different spectrum portions, such as red, green, and blue(or cyan, yellow, and magenta) of the incident light that is modulatedby illumination light valve 102 and directed through relay lens 140 andTIR 148 and dichroic prism 150. The individually modulated imageportions from light valves 152, 154, and 156 are then combined togetherat the display target 146 after projection lens 158.

It is noted that even though imaging light valves 102, 152, 154, and 156are disposed before projection lens 158 along the propagation path ofthe light, this is one of many possible configurations. In analternative configuration, imaging light valves 152, 154, and 156 can bebetween the projection lens and the screen, or at the screen. In anotheralternative configuration, illumination light valve 102 can be disposedbetween the projection lens and the screen, or at the screen.

In the example as shown in FIG. 11, imaging light valve 102 is disposedbefore imaging light valves 152, 154, and 156 along the propagation pathof the illumination light from the light source (136). In an alternativeexample, imaging light valve 102 can be disposed after imaging lightvalves 152, 154, and 156 along the propagation path of the illuminationlight from the light source (136), which is not shown in the figure.

In the display system examples as shown in FIG. 10 and FIG. 11,illumination light valve 102 is separate from the illumination system136. In another example, the illumination light valve, as well as thedichroic prism and/or relay lens, can be integrated into and thus anintegral portion of the illumination system.

In the above exemplary display systems, imaging and illumination lightvalves are disposed before projection lenses (e.g. projection lens 144in FIG. 10 and projection lens 158 in FIG. 11). In other alternativeexamples, the imaging or illumination light valve can be disposed afterthe projection lens. For example, the imaging or illumination lightvalve can be disposed between the projection lens and the screen toovercome the ANSI contrast limitation of the projection lens. In anotherexample, the imaging or illumination light valve can be disposed at thescreen.

It will be appreciated by those of skill in the art that a new anduseful display system and an imaging method of high dynamic range havebeen described herein. In view of the many possible embodiments,however, it should be recognized that the embodiments described hereinwith respect to the drawing figures are meant to be illustrative onlyand should not be taken as limiting the scope of what is claimed. Thoseof skill in the art will recognize that the illustrated embodiments canbe modified in arrangement and detail. Therefore, the devices andmethods as described herein contemplate all such embodiments as may comewithin the scope of the following claims and equivalents thereof.

1. A method for producing an image, comprising: deriving a first set ofimage data from the image using a dithering pattern; directing a beam oflight onto a first light valve comprising an array of individuallyaddressable pixels; modulating the beam of light by the first light valebased on the first set of image data; directing the light modulated fromthe first light valve onto a second light valve comprising an array ofindividually addressable pixels; modulating the light modulated from thefirst light valve by the second light vale based on a set of image data,wherein the second set of image data is derived from scaling the imageby an image formed by the modulated light from the first light valeaccounting for an optical effect; and projecting the light from thesecond light valve onto a screen.
 2. The method of claim 1, wherein thefirst and second light valves are defocused from each other.
 3. Themethod of claim 2, wherein optical effect comprises an optical blurringeffect.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein the dithering pattern is abinary dithering pattern.
 5. The method of claim 1, wherein first set ofimage data is derived from the image with an image process thatcomprises a low frequency pass filtering.
 6. The method of claim 1,wherein first set of image data is derived from the image with an imageprocess that comprises an image dilation process.
 7. The method of claim1, wherein the pixels of the first light valve operate at an ON and OFFstate.
 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the pixels are micromirrordevices, or LCD cells.
 9. The method of claim 1, wherein the pixels areanalogue devices.
 10. A projection system, comprising: an illuminationsystem providing light; an imaging light valve having an array ofindividually addressable pixels for modulating the light so as toproduce a desired image; an illumination light valve having an array ofindividually addressable pixels disposed between the illumination systemand imaging light valve on a propagation path of the light so as toimage the pixels of the illumination light valve onto the pixels of theimaging light valve; and wherein the pixel images of the illuminationlight valve are offset from the pixels of the imaging light valve suchthat the produced image has a resolution that is higher than theresolution of the illumination light valve and/or the imaging lightvalve.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the pixels images are offseta distance along a diagonal of the pixel of the imaging light valve,wherein the distance is substantially half of the diagonal of the pixelof the imaging light valve.
 12. The system of claim 10, wherein thepixels are micromirrors each of which comprises a reflective anddeflectable mirror plate.
 13. The system of claim 10, wherein the pixelsof one of the imaging and illumination light valves are micromirrorseach of which comprises a reflective and deflectable mirror plate; andwherein the pixels of the other one of the imaging and illuminationlight valves are not micromirrors.
 14. The system of claim 13, whereinthe pixels of the other one of the imaging and illumination light valvesare LCD cells, LCOS cells, or plasma cells.
 15. The system of claim 11,wherein the imaging light valve has a different natural resolution, orpitch size than the illumination light valves.
 16. The system of claim11, wherein the illumination system comprises a light source thatcomprises an arc lamp, a LED, or a laser.
 17. The system of claim 16,wherein the illumination light valve is an integral part of theillumination system.
 18. A method of producing an image, comprising:producing an array of light beams whose intensity are dynamicallyadjustable onto an imaging light valve, each light beam being capable ofgenerating an illumination area on a pixel of an array of pixels of theimaging light valve; modulating, by the imaging light valve, the arrayof light beams so as to produce the image; and wherein the illuminationareas are offset a distance along a diagonal of the pixel of the imaginglight valve.
 19. The method of claim 18, wherein the distance issubstantially half of a diagonal of the pixel.
 20. The method of claim19, wherein the step of producing the array of light beams furthercomprising: producing a light beam; directing the light beam onto anillumination light valve having an array of individually addressablepixels; and producing the array of light beams by modulating theindividually addressable pixels.
 21. The method of claim 18, wherein thestep of modulating further comprises: modulating the array of lightbeams based on a set of image data, further comprising: deriving the setof image data using a pulse-width-modulation technique whoseleast-significant-bit is defined based on a dynamic response of a pixelfrom the illumination light valve and another dynamic response of apixel from the imaging light valve.
 22. A method of producing an image,comprising: directing a beam of light onto a first light valve having anarray of pixels; modulating the beam of light by the first light valve;modulating the modulated light from the first light valve by a secondlight valve having an array of pixels based on a set of image dataderived from the image using a pulse-width-modulation technique, whereinthe least significant bit of the pulse-width modulation is 7microseconds or less; and projecting the modulated light from the secondlight valve onto a screen.
 23. The method of claim 22, wherein theleast-significant-bit is defined based on an electromechanical responseof the pixels of the first light valve and an electromechanical responseof the pixels of the second light valve.
 24. The method of claim 23,wherein the least-significant-bit is less than 5 microseconds.
 25. Themethod of claim 24, wherein the least-significant-bit is less than 600nanoseconds.
 26. The method of claim 23, wherein the pixels of the firstlight valve are micromirrors.
 27. The method of claim 23, wherein thepixels of the second light valve are micromirrors.
 28. The method ofclaim 23, wherein the first and second light valves are aligned suchthat an image of a pixel of the first light valve is substantiallyaligned to a pixel of the second light valve.
 29. The method of claim23, wherein the second light vale is not located on a focal plane of thesecond light valve.